Our single Tubthumping was nominated for an award by radio listeners but we didn't really want to be there. The only way we could feel good about doing the Brits was to subvert it in some small way. So we made a film about Reclaim the Streets protesters and changed the words to the song, to reference the striking dockers in Liverpool. One of the dockers was going to collect the award if we won. Obviously we didn't.

As the night dragged on our bass player, Paul, said: "Prescott's over there." He was only 10 tables away. We'd all had a few drinks and somebody said: "Why don't we do something?" I was the one in the band who, if there was a dare, you could convince to do it. I wandered over and thought, "Right, I'm going to grab it," so I grabbed the water bucket, jumped up on the table and said: "This is for the dockers," and threw it over him. He was outraged and pushed me off the table.

Security guards put handcuffs on me. The head of security said: "Right, we know who you are, you're going down for a long time." Then he came back and said: "Mr Prescott doesn't want to press charges but you've ruined his suit." The record company apologised and sent flowers to his wife. They asked us to apologise and we said no.

We got a lot of flak from people like the Manic Street Preachers who said Prescott was the only working-class guy in New Labour. We felt that, especially with the arts, they were showing their true colours and it just got worse with wars and whatnot later down the line.

In other news ...

Arise, Sir Reg

On 24 February, Elton John is knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Sadly, the honour is bestowed under his real name, Reginald Kenneth Dwight, rather than his stage moniker, Elton Hercules John.

Here come the girls

Also on 24 February, the Spice Girls begin their Spiceworld tour in Dublin. They play to more than 2 million people over 102 dates, but not before Geri Halliwell leaves the band on 30 May after an internal power struggle.

Prize Wally

On 25 February, Ol' Dirty Bastard invades the stage during the Grammys after the Wu-Tang Clan miss out on the award for best rap album. "I bought an outfit that cost a lot of money 'cause I thought we'd win," he complains.